Marmik, the weekly cartoon magazine started by Shiv Sena’s founder Balasaheb Thackeray in 1960 taught Maharashtrians “self-respect” and evolved into a movement, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said.

Speaking at a virtual celebration to mark the 61st anniversary of Marmik, Uddhav Thackeray said he as well as the weekly have now transformed into a new “avatar“.

“Marmik completed 61 years today and I completed 61 years last month… Both of us have assumed new avatars,” he said, in an apparent reference to his becoming Maharashtra’s chief minister in 2019.

“Maharashtra gained statehood with Mumbai as its capital on May 1, 1960; I was born on July 27, 1960, and Marmik was born on August 13, 1960,” Mr Thackeray said.

“Marmik is the torch of the Marathi manoos and it has taught us what self-respect means,” he said.

The weekly gave birth to the Shiv Sena and later the Saamana, the party’s mouthpiece, the chief minister said, adding that Saamana editorials are taken note of not only in Maharashtra and India but “the world-over”.

His father taught him not to give up when faced with challenges, “and that’s what I am doing,” he said. Marathi people are not cowed down by challenges, he added.

From a weekly magazine featuring cartoons, Marmik evolved into a movement that appealed to Marathi-speakers to give up salaried jobs and start businesses of their own, Mr Thackeray said.

“Balasaheb Thackeray led from the front by giving up his job as a cartoonist with the Free Press Journal to start Marmik,” he added.

Political cartoonist David Low was his father’s idol, Mr Thackeray reminisced.